New Beginnings
by NoxSolia
Summary: Bri is back from the US, and Hiruma's old feelings seem to be bubbling back to the surface. M for language. HirumaxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Ok. Hey peoples. :] This is the redo of my Eyeshield 21 fanfiction. It follows the actual story line now, and hopefully will make more sense later on. I'll say right now, that the updating will be erratic, unfortunately I'm rather busy and often have writers block. D: But for now, enjoy~!**

Stepping out of the loading gate from her flight from America to Japan, Bri Dietrich looked at the signs written in Japanese and let out a sigh of relief. Pulling her blonde hair back into a pony tail, she went to collect her luggage. On the way to the baggage claim, the lanky girl stopped to check the state of her hair in a reflective window. Her critical jade eyes surveyed the damage.

_Ugh. Nice hair, Bri. Really working the 'Yes I did just sleep for fourteen hours on a plane' look._

Pulling out her brush she combed through her bangs, fixing the ends so the red tips weren't as mussed. Then she noticed the people on the other side of the window staring. Flushing, she stuffed her brush into her bag and quickly walked away.

_Well. You have been back in Japan for the first time in two years and you've already made a fool of yourself. Wonderful._

"Ugh. I hate unpacking . . ."

Bri's apartment was covered in boxes. Some were unpacked, some unopened and others just look like they exploded. And sitting in the middle of it all was a very frustrated, cleaning challenged teenager.

From underneath a pile of cloths an alarm went off. "Shit! I'm gonna be late!" She dug through the pile of cloths to find the alarm so she could turn the incessant beeping OFF. Finally she found it, making more of a mess then there already was, and slammed the 'off' button. Grabbing the keys to her house and her phone Bri ran to get out her door, tripping on boxes on her way, and went to catch her train to get to Deimon High.

_Let's see . . . What number was I again?_

Rummaging through the pockets of her jeans and zip up hoodie, she finally found the slip of paper with her exam number on it.

_That's right! Ju-shi! 14!_

She made her way to the board with the accepted applicants' names on them, having to squeeze through some narrow openings and even having to push one obnoxious boy out of the way.

_Well, it's good to know the guys are still the same even on the other side of the world._

Sighing internally, she scanned the board looking for her number. Finding it, she let out a

real sigh of relief.

_Not really a surprise but it would have sucked if I hadn't gotten in. Well I guess I'd better get home and finish unpacking. Joy_.

Just as she turned to leave, something caught her eye; or more specifically, someone. That someone being Hiruma Yoichi, her best friend that she had unfortunately lost touch with when her parents forced her to come back to the US for high school.

_Oh my gosh, he's such a creeper._

She was referring to how he was positioned. He was hiding behind a wall, peering out the side at a small brown haired boy. Instead of intervening, she chose to watch whatever he was up too. It had been WAY to long since the last time she had seen the familiar sight of one of his schemes being carried out.

Just as she thought this, Hiruma and another rather rotund boy who she recognized as Kurita, ran at the small boy and tossed him in the air. Her eyes widened a little as she watched the scene unfold. Hiruma then pulled out a phone, let the boy use it for all of ten seconds and then grab it only to dash away, Kurita close behind.

Laughing, she jogged up to Hiruma, as he was stalking off to his next victim. She playfully punched him in the shoulder and said, "Hey, Yoichi! Long time no see!"

He whirled around, clearly intent to see who dared punch him and use his first name. However, once his eyes locked with Bri's, something clicked in his memory.

"Bri?"

Beaming she said, "Yep! The one and only."

Kurita soon realized he was no longer with Hiruma and started back. When he saw Bri, he charged at her and swung her up into a huge bone crushing hug.

"BRIIIII! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S YOU! I never thought I'd see you again!"

"Yeah, I thought your parents were intent on keeping you in America for high school?"

Hiruma skeptically eyed Bri as Kurita set her down, leaving the girl gasping for breath and massaging her ribs. The memory of why she had left America flashed across her mind painfully, her expression showing it for a split second. She pushed it to the recesses of her mind and recited the line she had fabricated on the plane ride here. Simply she said,

"My Oka-san changed her mind and decided an education over here was more beneficial for me."

The partial lie seemed to pass off for truth, because Hiruma shrugged his shoulders and blew a bubble with his gum.

However, he did see the flash, simply choosing to address it later.

"But you would have known that if you hadn't broken your phone only a couple of months after I left. Baka."

She flicked him on the forehead as she said this, generating an audible gasp from the crowd that had gathered at the strange sight of a girl willingly talking to the demonic highschooler. Popping another gum bubble, he said, "Yeah well, whatever. Can't be helped."

Turning his attention to Kurita, he switched his attitude drastically from the neutral one he had while talking to Bri to his trademarked demonic one. "Hey, fucking fatass! There are still recruits out there. Get moving. I'll be with you in a minute. C'mon, fucking American."

Kurita took off on his new mission, and Bri, laughing, jogged once again to catch up to Hiruma who had already started walking. "Still using those nicknames then?" _This guy hasn't changed one bit _Bri thought.

"Eh. He's a fucking fatass, you're a fucking American. No way around it." He cracked a grin as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"So what are the posters for?" Bri asked casually, trying to hide her curiosity, as they walked through the crowd together. She noticed that the crowds no longer seemed to be a problem. They all parted ways to make sure there was plenty of room for the two of them.

Hiruma glanced at her from the corner of his eyes.

"An American football club; I told you I was starting one right before I broke my phone."

"Oh, so that's what those are for? And I still can't believe you broke it. I would have expected you to at least remember my number, dummy."

Bri noticed the frightened stares from the surrounding people, as well as the parting of the way effect and said, "Glad to see you still have that reputation of yours in high school. How's the threat notebook coming along?"

A glint appeared in Hiruma's eyes that would scare most people away, but one Bri was accustomed to seeing, he said,

"Fantastically; I've made this whole school into my personal slaves." Laughing his signature laugh Bri shook her head in exasperation.

"Well to tell you the truth I wasn't really expecting anything else." She laughed. "You know . . . I continued on with football in America after I left. I've improved quite a bit."

Hiruma stopped walking and looked at her, unable to believe that this slight girl could survive on the field. "Really."

"Really!" Bri said smiling brightly, having to back track a little because Hiruma had stopped so suddenly. "And you, ya know, seem to be short on members seeing as you're going through such desperate attempts to recruit so . . ."

Hiruma continued looking at her, face expressionless. "What. You wanna try out or something?"

"Actually, yeah! Can I?"

Hiruma blinked a few times, not expecting that response.

"I can't send you onto the field. Not in a real game. You would get destroyed. This isn't middle school anymore, with teams filled with little kids who were unwilling to tackle a girl. These guys wouldn't care. You'd get taken down."

"You don't need to be concerned about my safety, you know. I can handle myself just fine." Bri said stubbornly.

Hiruma looked warily at the obstinate blonde. "You really play?"

As he was saying this, his eyes studied her. For the first time he noticed she was at eye level with him. _When did she get to be as tall as me?_

"Yes, I do." She said, annoyed. "I forced my high school sports administrator to let me have a try out. Took a leaf out of your book on that one, actually. I got on the second string team as a freshman. Sure, we were a bit desperate, but still. I beat out guys two and three years older than me, not to mention my entire grade of guys."

Thinking about it for a little Hiruma asked,

"What was your position?"

"Quarterback, number 41."

"Well the position of quarterback is already taken so looks like you're outta luck."

Bri glared at her friend.

"I can play other positions! Please, let me try out, Yoichi." She switched her facial expression from glare to pleading, hoping the change would sway her long time friend.

It did.

Popping another bubble, he studied her face for a moment.

_Dammit. I can't say no to her._

"Fine. There's a field in the back of the school. Meet me and the fucking fatty there in a few hours."

Bri's face lit up with a huge smile, radiating joy.

"Yay! Thank you Yoichi!" She jumped on him, giving him a hug.

"Yeah whatever, get off." Laughing Bri got off him and started back to her apartment to get ready for the try out.

"See you then, fucking hair gel!" She turned back around to continue home she wondered, _Was he . . . blushing?_ Shaking the thought off, she set her mind to the task ahead, getting onto the Deimon football team, and lead by who was sure to be a tougher coach then her last one.

_Oh dear. What have I gotten myself into?_

**Ta da! First chapter, revised. :] Review please, I know my grammar isn't the greatest. I only have Microsoft Word for correcting, so I'm sorry. T_T Please bear with me.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there. So . . . it's been a while. A very, very, very long while. **

**. . . **

**^_^; SORRY. I have at least two more chapters after this one too, so hopefully that'll keep everyone happy until I can figure out what to write next? Again sorry for the horrendously long wait. D: **

_FUCK. What the hell was that?_ Hiruma thought as he went to find Kurita after Bri left. _She's back. Which is great, because she was your best friend before she left and still is, but, what the HELL? She's HOT. When did that skimpy tomboy get a body? Never mind the fact the day she told you she was leaving was the day you were going to tell her you liked her, you've gotten over that, but now she's back and freaking . . ._ Thinking about it made him turn slightly red again. _Whatever. She's still a friend. JUST friend. Get that through your thick skull and MOVE ON._

Stopping his internal ranting, he directed himself to the clubhouse, completely forgetting about finding Kurita.

However, he was in the clubhouse when he got there.

"Hiruma . . . ? Are you alright?" Asked Kurita when he saw Hiruma. Hiruma looked up at him, mildly surprised to find him there. The momentary surprise forced Bri out of his mind for a split second, only to have them return full swing.

Kurita saw the surprise and hurriedly sputtered, "I – I – I – I realized I couldn't really continue finding people without you and I didn't know what to do so I just came back here . . ." He ended his sputtering rather lamely and looked at his feet in shame.

"Whatever, its fine, just go set up the field. Bri's trying out in a few hours."

"R-REALLY? YAY!"

Kurita happily set up the field in preparation of the try out while Hiruma entered the messy clubroom and sank into a chair. Rubbing his forehead he tried to snap out of it. Failing at doing so he just got various things ready for Bri's tryout.

Bri arrived at the Deimon field to find Hiruma and Kurita already in full gear, waiting for her.

"Do you have all the pads and a helmet?"

"Yes I do, I'm glad I decided to bring them with me." Smiling she stepped closer to the two. "But do you have a jersey? They took that back when I left the team."

Kurita chimed in at this, "Yes we do! I'll go get it for you." He ran off cheerily to the club house.

"He's as cheerful as ever, I see." Bri observed while strapping on her equipment.

"Like you're one to talk."

Laughing, she stood up, properly padded for the try out. "You have a point. So what exactly does this try out entail?"

"40 yard dash, catching and throwing and tackling. The results of this will determine if

you make the team or not."

"Sounds good!" Bri said this cheerfully but in reality she was terrified. _I'm probably just going to make a fool of myself. Sure you made the team back home, but they were desperate. _

She chewed her bottom lip, a habit she developed in grade school whenever she was nervous.

Hiruma took notice to it. "Don't be nervous. It'll just get in the way of your performance."

Surprised by his comment she snapped out of her trance. "O-Okay."

_He still remembers I do that when I'm nervous?_

Just then Kurita came running back with the jersey, disrupting any thoughts she was just having about Hiruma.

"I hope this fits. It's one of the smallest ones we have right now . . ." She took the jersey and thanked Kurita.

"Hey! Number 41! That's my old number back on the Mariners!"

_Maybe it'll bring me good luck._ She thought wistfully as she put it on.

"Alright. 40 yard dash first." Shouted Hiruma from the farther end of the field where the tryout was being held.

Bri lined up and got ready to run.

_Wonder if she got any faster since last time I saw her._

"Ready. Set. GO!"

Bri took off in a sprint. Hiruma clicked the stopwatch as she passed him in a cloud of dust.

Jogging back to Hiruma Bri asked, "So, what's my time?"

Kurita sputtered "F-Four point eight. That's amazing Bri-chan!" Kurita ran over to her and lifted her up into a bone crushing hug.

"Kurita! Pain. Can't. BREATH."

"Oh! Sorry!" He let go of her and Bri took in a grateful breath. She then looked to Hiruma.

He just blew a bubble and said, "Alright. Next trial."

Bri went through the catching and throwing portion of the try out somewhat alright. She laughed nervously when it was over.

"Heh heh. My uhh throwing control never really was that good for long passes . . ." She laughed nervously again.

_I only made little more then half of the shots I threw. And the ones I did make were mostly all short passes! Shit, shit, SHIT. I knew this wasn't a good idea. WHY did I have to try out?_

Beginning to further destroy the skin on her bottom lip she went over to where Hiruma called her for the last portion of the trial.

He looked over at her and said, "Put on your helmet. You need to be able to take me down in this next part. And stop being nervous."

She went to go get her helmet and Kurita walked over to her. "You are doing really well. Hiruma thinks so too." He said with a smile.

"Really." Bri disbelievingly at Kurita.

"Yep! Just do what he said and relax. You don't need to be nervous."

Bri looked up at Kurita's silly smile and felt herself loosening on the inside.

"Thanks Kurita-san."

She slammed on her helmet and walked over to Hiruma for instruction.

"This next part is simple. Knock me down. I don't care how, so long as it's within the rules."

He took a defensive stance a few yards away from Bri. "Come on! I don't have all day!"

He shouted.

Taking a few steps back, Bri readied herself. Closing her eyes she cleared her mind of all trivial thoughts she focused on one thing, taking Hiruma down. When she opened her eyes again the expression in them changed. Her thoughts and personality had undergone a total transformation. She charged at Hiruma with all her strength and smashed into him. The force of the tackle made him lose his balance. Bri saw this opportunity and continued pushing at him with as much force as her body would allow. It wasn't long before the quarterback was sent blue sky.

Hiruma was taken by total surprise.

_Huh. Shrimp packs a punch._

Bri held out a hand to help him up. Taking her hand Hiruma got himself up off the ground.

After brushing himself off and removing his helmet he said,

"You're in."

Bri was in the middle of taking her own helmet off as he said this. Removing it completely she looked at him with huge eyes.

"SERIOUSLY? Yay!" She ran and glomped Hiruma for the second time in one day and Kurita soon joined.

"Yay! We have the three of us on a team again!"

"I knoooow! This is great! I'm so happy to be back with you guys!"

"Yeah, now all we have to do is get more people to join!" Kurita started bouncing happily, taking Hiruma and Bri with him. Laughing Bri said, "Yep! It shouldn't be TOO ha-"

"Can you continue this conversation AFTER you've let go of me?" Hiruma shouted.

"Oh, sorry Hiruma." Kurita said. He let go and right after Bri did as well. Kurita and Bri kept rambling on about how awesome this whole thing was, and Hiruma picked his helmet off the ground and started back to the club house.

_She always used to do that sort of hugging thing back then. Nothing has changed. Except how you feel when she does._

"FUCK."

He punched the side of the clubroom wall in frustration. Cursing again because the brilliant move hurt his hand he started shedding his gear to get changed so he could go the fuck home.

"Ok, so you're a lineman, duh, and Yoichi's our quarterback and I'm . . . Uhm."

Something dawned on Bri. "Ahh jeez, I was so excited I made the team, I forgot to ask Yoichi what my position was." Laughing, she face palmed. "Typical me. I'll just go ask him now. He went to the club house, right?" Kurita chimed an affirmative, and Bri trotted off to the clubhouse.

_I can't wait to tell everyone back home I made the team!_

Almost squealing with excitement and happiness, she opened the door to the clubhouse and started to ask, "Hey, Yoichi! I never asked, but what's my-"

When she looked inside she found Hiruma changing.

"AH! Uhm . . . SORRY! I'll just, uhh, shut the door now!"

Face bright red, she slammed the door shut and slid into a sitting position against the door.

_I can't believe I just did that. Well at least it was just his shirt that was off . . ._

Her mind drifted back to the image and her face soon matched the colour of her bangs.

"Are you alright Bri-kun?" Kurita asked when he found her sitting outside the clubhouse looking dazed.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine." She laughed uneasily.

"Did you ask what your position is yet?"

"Oh! Position. Right."

_Wow. I completely forgot what I came over here to ask._

"Well, Hiruma was changing at the time so I haven't asked yet . . ."

"Well he should be done now."

Kurita then knocked on the door.

"Just open the door fucking fatty!" Hiruma's voice came from inside. Stepping inside Bri actually saw the state of the clubroom.

"Wow. This kinda looks like my apartment right now."

She said this surveying the small room, eyes running over Hiruma for an instant, thanking god he was clothed.

"You wanted something, Bri?" Hiruma asked, wondering if she was at all affected by what had just happened.

"Oh! Yeah, I was wondering, what position do I play? I don't think you told me. Or are you still deciding?" Bri asked calmly.

_Thank you Drama class._

Hiruma concluded that she had not been.

"You'll be playing the fullback. You know what that is? That position isn't normally used in modern plays, but I think you could be useful in that position."

"No, I'm not really sure what a fullback does. But that's an offensive position, right?"

"Right. A fullback is positioned directly behind the quarterback. Your job is to keep a path opened for the running back to get through the opponents defensive line so he can score. It'll take power, but you have that already judging by how you knocked me blue sky earlier."

"Sounds good. Uhm . . . is there anything you guys want me to do while I'm here? Like . . . cleaning?"

Looking around she thought that the place could use it. Desperately.

"Nah, it's fine the way it is." He leaned back in his chair. "So you can go home."

"Alrighty then, are there any practices I should be aware of?"

Thinking for a second, Hiruma decided now would be a good time to talk to Bri.

"Hey Kurita, didn't you have a schedule made up in case anyone actually joined today?"

Kurita thought for a second before proclaiming, "Oh yes! I'll go get it right away! I left it in the classroom."

Hiruma tossed Kurita a ring of keys. "Here, one of them will get you in the building."

Kurita went out of the clubroom, closing the door behind him.

"You have keys to the school? Really?" Her arms crossed and left eyebrow cocked.

"It seemed necessary." Hiruma then scrutinized Bri with a penetrating stare.

"What?" Bri asked, suspicious of Hiruma.

"What's the reason you left America? And don't give me that 'My mother let me come back because of education' shit. I want the real reason."

Bri's eyes widened in shock.

"I, I don't know what you're talking about."

"I've always been able to read you Bri. I've always known when you were upset over something. Stop lying, you don't need to. You know that."

At that moment, memories of the past year barraged Bri. Unable to stop the sudden wave she just stood still and silent as she relived the past year in fast forward. Car rides to get food during lunch breaks for play practice, goofing off backstage, being picked up and slung over his shoulder like nothing more than a rag doll, all the inside jokes, laughing at things no one else got, they all escaped. Escaped from the place she kept them locked, hidden and out of site in the back of her mind.

Tears welled in her eyes. "No . . ."

She knew what was coming next. The worst of all of them.

Her eyes widened even more, blank, not seeing what was in front of her but rather the memory that so recently caused her so much pain.

_She's been annoying the shit out me. Why won't she just leave me alone?_

"NO!" Bri screamed as she staggered sideways and leaned heavily against the wall to keep from falling over.

"Bri! Are you alright? Hiruma asked, jumping out of his chair.

"I . . . I have to go!" Bri opened the door and sprinted away from the clubhouse. Unable to keep the tears back anymore, she let the sobs wrack her body as she ran.

_I need to calm down._

Slowing from her run she sank to the ground leaning against the side of the deserted school to calm herself.


End file.
